Nayab Abidi's essay "Mitochondria to determine species: An Insight into DNA Bar Codes" is now up in the Biology section, bringing the Biology essay count to 4, equalling those of Physics. We are proud we have finally caught up and we hope you are too. Here is an excerpt:

Researchers believe that this particular sequence becomes unique after two species split from their common ancestor. However, researchers will be researchers. Molecular biologist Dan Mishmar and his colleagues at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel, put forward this new hypothesis; that the bar codes do not become unique just ‘because’ the two species split but they might even be important ‘drivers’ of the process of speciation. What they propose is that this particular stretch of mitochondrial DNA might be responsible for undermining the reproductive compatibility within a species when it conflicts with the sequences in the nucleus.

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It means: when you cross closely related species, their offsrping are hybrids. When the you're crossing the two species the mitochondrial material is only coming from the one who's female you have. You have nuclear material from BOTH. So, this way the mitochondrial DNA is matched with a 'mixed' DNA of both the species. This 'hybrid' is less 'fit' than either of the parents. As the stats say, it has respiration problems (since mitochondrial genes mostly deal with respiration related proteins) and lower fertility rate (reproductive incompatibility).So, this hybrid 'broke down'. If you had crossed the males and females from 'within' the species, the offspring would not have been hybrids and would have been healthy (for respiration and reproduction anyway).

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Mehr

8/28/2010 06:15:02 am

In other words, cousin marriages suck:p Thanks for the explanation:)

Reply

Nayab

8/29/2010 07:41:37 am

Actually Mehr, this time, it's completely the other way round...=PUsually inbreeding (cousin marriages) tend to cause the offspring to become less fit. In this case the offspring from the result of out-breeding (between two species) are less fit. I must be doing a really bad job of explaining this if you didn't get it the second time around either...=S

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Mehr

8/30/2010 08:42:59 pm

I re-read the whole thing and now it makes sense. I am a BAD bio student.

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